Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3268363 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: CD-ROM

Customer Reviews

Where is that multimedia ?
Textual content: 5 stars out of 5. Textual content is remarkable. Buy this cd rom. Anyway, I will talk about something else. When you put the cd-rom in, you'll find it's size is over 450 MB. You'll say: "Wow, a lot of multimedia stuff must be inside!! Can't wait to see and hear it all!!" And this is where frustration comes out, once you start to dig out the content of this cd rom. Soon you will realize that the real size of this cd is not `over 450 MB' as your computer (or advertisement in store) is saying. The real size is just 12 MB! This is the reason why i gave 4 stars to this cd. It lacks multimedia.

So what is the rest of the content of this cd rom? Well the rest are songs in uncompressed wav format! Yes dear reader, almost ten years after introduction of mp3 sound compression format someone is putting uncompressed wavs on the cd rom. But why are they doing it? So that advertise can say 'full of multimedia content'? Ok, dear producers, next time don't forget to convert all pictures to uncompressed BMP format. I can guarantee you the same cd rom content will jump to over 900MB, so that you can put in the following advertise: "Seti CD-ROM, over 900MB full of multimedia content! On two CD roms!".

Some may say, another reason for putting wav files is the easy integration in internet browser environment. Wrong! There are dozens of sound compressors which integrate well in browser environment, including mp3. Even if mp3 doesn't work on some browser, the problem can be solved by putting mp3 player on the cd rom. Do i have to mention that this player is freeware?

But this sound compression would put our cd rom producers in a little trouble since the overall content would become 30MB or less. And they don't want that to happen. Right? You can't put an advertise saying 'Buy Seti CD rom! Over 30 MB of multimedia content'. Because one download from Friday night party on your digital camera is larger than that. And one will know there can't be much of multimedia on that cd-rom. And our producers know that too. So I guess they tried to fix the problem by putting uncompressed wav files on the cd rom.

Dear producers, if you are so into multimedia (over 400 megs!?) why didn't you provide some interesting sound files? Let people hear how a pulsar sound like. How does "wow" signal sound like. How it sounds when you point the radio telescope to the Sun on various wavelengths. How does it sound when you point on a distant active galaxy. And many other examples of space sounds and around them. I know there is no much of Seti stuff in there, but people are curious. And you talk about radio telescopes so these sound files count into. It is obvious that such exotic sounds are very interesting to us readers/beginners. Oh yes, i said one lie about radio files. You did put some radio telescope sound files on the cd rom. The whole 2 of them. What a multimedia...

You don't have to be a rocket scientist...
As Executive Director of the nonprofit, membership-supported SETI League, I am privileged to head up a grass-roots, global search for our cosmic companions. Along the way, I've gotten to know some of the most creative and innovative inhabitants of Planet Earth. In "Tune In The Universe!", I write about them, and their shared quest.

Part tutorial, part memoir, and part history, "Tune In The Universe!" is your guide to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. It is a fully interactive hypertext-book on CD-ROM, which you read on your computer using its web-browser software (the book is Windows, Macintosh, and Linux compatible).

Written for the knowledgeable layman, "Tune In!" explains why we are most likely not alone, and where we are most likely to detect evidence of other intelligences in the universe. It teaches you how to build your own amateur radio telescope, in order to join in a scientifically credible search for beings Out There. Since the medium supports it, "Tune In The Universe!" also includes, as a bonus, sixteen of my SETI songs.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist, but if you're interested in SETI, you do have to read this book!

H. Paul Shuch, Ph.D. (Dr. SETI ®)